Your Home
by akarihyde
Summary: An alternate scene where Natasha Romanoff was involved with Steve Rogers instead of Bruce Banner in Age of Ultron. Steve and Natasha shared their dreams Scarlet Witch showed them.


**Your Home**

When everyone came out of the quintet, the sky had already brightened. They found themselves landed near a small farm. They followed Barton to the house. It seemed that it was the only house around.

Steve was exhausted. He quietly followed everyone but his mind was on Natasha. She seemed took a really big hit from that Maximoff girl. But Banner was the worst; the guilt of hurting innocent civilians was suffocating him.

When they arrived at the door, Thor asked curiously, "What is this place?" Tony, being a jerk even after what they've been through, answered him sarcastically, "A safe house." He had no idea where this place is either. He thought he had every piece of information of S.H.I.E.L.D. when he hacked into the computer last time when they were fighting Loki, but he couldn't remember anything about a safe house.

"Let's hope." Barton answered as they stepped into the house. It looked cozy and warm. It was like a real home rather than a safe house. As they inspected the house, they heard Barton shouted "Honey, I'm home."

A pregnant woman came out. She was surprised by the gang, clearly had no clue that they would be coming.

"Company, sorry didn't call ahead." Barton gave her a hug and a deep kiss.

"This is an agent of some kind." Tony told Thor.

Clint then introduced, "Gentlemen, this is Laura."

The beautiful woman waved and greeted, "I know all your names." The men smiled back to her. They were all shocked that Clint has a wife as he always claimed he did not have a girlfriend. No one would have a single thought that he is married. Immediately they heard someone running down the stairs. Clint then released his arms around his wife and got ready for whoever came to greet him.

A little girl rushed into Clint's embrace. A boy followed closely.

"Dad!" Clint held the girl up by one arm and wrapped his other around the shoulder of the boy. "Hi, sweetheart! Hey buddy! How are you guys doing?" He hasn't seen them for quite some times now. He couldn't describe how much he missed them.

Steve pouted and Thor was shocked. Tony refused to believe what he saw. "These are smaller agents." Bruce remained silent.

The little girl then asked, "Did you bring Auntie Nat?".

Of course Natasha would have known, Steve thought. She was Clint's best friend after all. She must have met his family. Natasha then put up her fake smile. "Why don't you hug her yourself and find out." The little girl run to her favorite auntie and Natasha held the little girl up, giving her a small kiss on her face and the girl giggled. She seems to like Natasha a lot. They shared a small talk and they both laughed at something they said. That was the first smile that Steve saw on her face since their encounter with the Maximoff twins.

Being the gentleman he was, Steve apologized to Laura, "Sorry for barging in on you." And Tony immediate followed "Yeah, we would have called ahead, but we were busy having no idea that you existed."

"Yeah, well, Fury helped me set this up when I joined. He kept it off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files. I'd like to keep it that way." Clint explained. He appreciated what Fury had done for him and his family and in return, he could carry out missions more efficiently without having to worry too much about his family. "I figure it's a good place to lay low."

Natasha turned her gaze to Steve. Steve noticed she was now being a bit more relaxed. Natasha greeted Laura, catching up with her pregnancy. "How's little Natasha?" She put her hand on Laura's tummy. Laura smiled and broke the news to her. "She's Nathaniel." Natasha frowned and leaned in to where the baby is. "Traitor." She murmured. Steve couldn't help but brought himself smiling at the little scene, secretly hoping he would have that small talk with his unborn child one day.

Then Thor suddenly made his way leaving the house. Steve worried and followed him outside the house. "Thor?"

"I saw something in that dream" Thor said. "I need answers. I won't find them here."

Steve said nothing and watched him leave. When he was about to get back to the house, Peggy's voice echoed in his head again. "We can go home." He wanted to shake that weird dream off so he went to take a detour before going back.

In Clint's room, Laura was checking on her husband's healed wound on his right waist. Clint told her there was nothing to worry as he can't even tell any difference with the tissues that Helen Cho reconstructed.

Laura sighed, not wanting to argue with her husband. "If they're sleeping here, some of them are gonna have to double up." Clint laughed. "Yeah, that's not gonna sell." He was sure that none of them would love to share a bed with their teammates.

Laura clearly thought the otherwise. "What about Nat and Captain Rogers?" She asked. "How long has that been going on?"

Clint was startled when he heard his wife. "Has been what?"

This made Laura laughed. Her husband had no idea that something was going on between his best friend and the legendary soldier. "You are so cute."

"Nat and Cap?" He asked unbelievably. He swore he had no idea that they were somehow involved.

His wife continued to tease his insensitivity. "I will explain to you when you are older, Hawkeye."

Steve was irritated after the talk with Tony. Ultron has been successful turning them into a mess. How could they continue to protect the world as a team in a status like this? He wanted to clear his mind so he took a shower. When he got out the bathroom he found Natasha sitting on the bed in a bathrobe, drown in her own thought.

"Natasha. I didn't realize you were waiting."

She looked up. Steve hadn't been wearing anything except a towel wrapped around his waist.

"I would've joined you." She smirked. "But it didn't seem like the right time."

"They used up all the hot water." Steve looked sorry.

"I should've joined you." She teased.

Natasha returned to their bed, dropping her head down, palm on her face. She looked defeated.

There was definitely something wrong with her. He had never seen her in such a fragile state. She used to be determined and confident. He walked up to the bed and sat beside her. He pulled her small hands away from her face and held them in his bigger ones and looked in those beautiful green eyes.

"Are you alright?" He sounded very concerned.

He knew she liked keeping her problems to herself and he would usually let her. But this time, he hoped she would open up herself for him. "Is it about the vision? Do you want to tell me about it?"

Natasha hesitated. Although they had been secretly seeing each other since they came back to the team, she was still not ready to fully expose herself to him. Steve had been nothing but understanding and patient with her. He had never once forced her to open herself to him. He knew she was uncomfortable to do so. For most of the time it was him talking bout his past. He had nothing to hide from her. He told her about his childhood with Bucky Barnes, how Barnes had always come and rescued him when he got himself into trouble. He told her about his training as a soldier. He told her about project Reborn, about Dr. Erskine. He also told her about Peggy Carter, his first love.

On the other hand, she never told him about her life before she met Clint. She only told him it was Clint who spared her life and brought her out of her life as a deadly assassin. She never had the courage to bring up her past. She wanted to leave all those memories behind. But the vision Maximoff showed her hit her really hard. She knew she could not escape from her past forever. She knew that one day, Steve would found out who she really was. She was afraid that he would leave her.

"Steve, I – " She couldn't find the strength to spill it out to him. She buried her face in his shoulder, not wanting to look him in the eye. She was too broken, too damaged. And he had been nothing but perfect. She was so unworthy to have him.

Steve didn't press any further. He would wait for her when she was ready. He loved her way too much to make her do anything she didn't want to do. They remained still for a while.

"I saw Peggy." There he went again, sharing his deepest secrets with her unconditionally. "I saw that we were at the Stork Club." He moved one hand to her shoulder, holding her close to him. "We finally had the dance. The one that I can never had with her." He choked. "Then she told me the war is over. And … we can go home." Peggy was as beautiful as he has always remembers. Her red lips, her big eyes, and her signature red dress. That was the dream that he could never achieve, a life he could never had. Not even a chance.

"I can never give you a home, Steve." She whispered. Steve could feel the wetness on his shoulder. Natasha seemed to be took it pretty badly. "There are so many times I woke up to those nightmares. I used to shrug them off, walked away and pretended they didn't mattered. But not this time, I can't just pretend that I can let it go. I can't do this anymore. The more I care about you, the harder it becomes. I ... I am a monster and you are a hero. We shall never belong to each other."

"What are you talking about Natasha? You are not a monster." Steve held her up, so that he could look at her face. Her eyes were blurry. "What did you see?"

"That I wasn't an avenger, that I was anything more than the assassin they made me." She turned her face away.

"I think you are being hard on yourself, Tasha." He comforted her. "You know you are more than that."

"You have no future with me, Steve." She brushed off his hands and stood up. She tried her best to hold back her tears but it let her to no avail. She was scared, she had never once feel so broken, so helpless.

"Look! I can't ever, I can't ever have a family like Clint's." She turned to Steve, tears running down her cheeks. "I can't give you what you want, what you deserved."

Steve remained silent. He was not sure what to say. This has been the first time he'd seen her so emotional – yet human. He was worried but at the same time he's glad that she finally opened herself up a bit to him.

"In the Red Room, where I was… trained, where I was raised, um…" she choked. "they have a graduation ceremony. They sterilize you. It's efficient." She paused, wiping off a tear from her eye. "One less thing to worry about. The one thing that might matter more than a mission. Makes every easier, even killing." She smiled at him sadly. "It's ok if you want to leave me, run away from me because I can never become what you expected."

"No! You are not what you think." He rushed to her side, encircled his arms around her petit form tightly. His heart ached for her. He wouldn't let her to face all these pain by herself. He would always be by her side.

"I might have wanted a family, stability but all these mean nothing if it wasn't you." He loosened his arms around her and lowered down his torso so that he could see her face. "You are my home, Natasha."

Natasha was speechless. She thought he must be lying just to comfort her but his eyes were so sincere. "Steve…"

"It's ok if we do not have children. There are so many couples out there having problems to have their own children. If you want, we can adopt an orphan. Or we could adopt a kitten or a puppy. That would still make us a family." Steve said. "Home is where our hearts belong, Natasha. You know you will always have my heart. You are my home. Peggy was my past. I missed my chance to start a family with her but I don't regret anything because I have you now. You are my present and future. The past is behind us. "

"Steve…" Natasha couldn't hold back anymore, she let all her emotions out finally. Steve held her close once more. She held him back this time and they stayed unmoved for a long time. Nothing seemed mattered as long as they have each other in their arms.

"I don't care about your past. I love you for who you are. Your history is a part of you, it makes who you are today, the woman who had my heart."

If God truly exists, Natasha would thank HIM every day, for giving her another chance, another life. Thank HIM for giving her Steve Rogers, her rescuer.

"Believe me, Natasha. You are not a monster. I saw you when you were with Barton's daughter. You looked so happy and relaxed. I thought you would make a good mother of yourself. If a family is what you want. I will try my best to give you one. When the world is at peace, when people don't need us anymore, we can retire. We can move to a place where nobody knows us. You can have your dream house. We would live an ordinary life." He gently pressed his lips on her forehead. He wiped off her tear stain and then cupped her face with his hand and finally pressed his lips on hers.

She let herself imagine a life like that. That she would wake up in his arms everyday, have breakfast together, then off to work separately and come home to each other. They would hang out during the weekends, watch movies, trying out every restaurant in town. Just like any ordinary couple. Just the two of them.

When they were both out of air, they separated their lips slowly. Natasha leaned into his bare chest. His steady heartbeats had miraculously calmed her. He was so warm and Natasha was willing to stay there forever.

Steve laid her on the bed and he lied on the other side, still holding her close. She must be tired after going through this emotion breakdown. "Now, while waiting for the hot water, you should take a nap. I will be right here with you. I am not going anywhere, not without you."

"Promise me you will never leave me." She murmured into his chest.

"I promise. You know I always keep my promises." Steve chuckled. She was so cute when she felt insecure. He would love to explore more this side of her. Within several minutes, they both fell asleep.

When Clint was sent to tell them dinner was ready to serve, he found the two avengers was asleep. Natasha looked so peaceful in Steve's arm. Clint had never seen her being so relaxed and easy near anyone. When he looked closer, they were both smiling in their dreams. After all, his wife was right, there is something going on between the two of them, he thought to himself. He was glad that his best friend had finally found her home.


End file.
